MOSCOW, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Russia will defend the rights of its compatriots in a "strong and uncompromising" manner, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, as tensions rose in Crimea, the only Ukrainian region with an ethnic Russian majority.

"Russia's Foreign Ministry will continue to defend in the international arena the rights of its compatriots, it will strongly and uncompromisingly react when they are violated," the ministry said on its Twitter microblog.

The ministry said "large-scale human rights violations" in Ukraine were a cause for concern.

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